Gandhi’s Integrity

Freemen must be men and women of integrity. Integrity means that what you know to be true is integrated with how you act. It is doing what you say you will do and being who you know you can and should be.

The great leader Gandhi was once approached by a mother who wanted him to have a few words with her son. The boy was eating too much sugar and it was harming his teeth and diet. When the mother asked Gandhi to talk to her son he replied, “I cannot tell him that. But you may bring him back in a month.” Obviously the woman was discouraged because of all the travel involved to see Gandhi and what she felt should have been a simple answer to a simple request to support her parenting skills. However, one month later she returned with her son. Gandhi tenderly held the boy’s hands and told him to not eat sugar because it was harmful to his health. The mother was pleased but perplexed. She asked him why he had not simply said this to the boy a month earlier during her first visit. Gandhi replied, “Well, a month ago, I was still eating sugar.”

Gandhi was a powerful example of integrity. He was unwilling to correct someone for a weakness while he still had the same weakness. By overcoming the weakness himself, he would not have been a hypocrite by correcting another.